Hands-on with the Nintendo 3DS at CES

Nintendo invited Ars for a private playtime session with its upcoming handheld …

The Nintendo 3DS launch is creeping ever closer, and we got a little hands-on time with the device at CES this week. The playtime Nintendo afforded us was pretty structured, and they said the device was still a demo unit, but we continue to like what we're seeing with the 3DS.

In a private meeting, we played through two different games, one of which was of the much-anticipated augmented reality variety, still scripted in Japanese. A Nintendo rep had me set a comfortable 3D depth on the screen using a slider on the right edge, then aim the 3DS's camera at a card on a table about 35 centimeters away. Once the 3DS had calibrated itself, sets of targets appeared to pop right out of the table, waving and tilting, for me to shoot at.

The demo unit may not entirely resemble Nintendo's final version.

Moving the 3DS around in space provided me with different vantage points so I could get a better angle on the targets, and on the dragon that snaked out of the table in the end. It was a cool feature, though I struggled a little with keeping my head and body in line with the 3DS's screen so that the image stayed in 3D (seeing the 3DS's 3D effects requires looking at the screen dead-on). Not a deal-breaker, but it would take some getting used to.

The second game, Pilotwings, required either flying a plane through a course of circles, or aiming a be-jetpacked pilot at balloons floating in the sky. Flying planes through circles is not at all a new mechanic, but it was surprising how much easier the 3D effects made it to judge what maneuvers were needed to make it through each gate. The last thing I was showed was a trailer for the movie Legend of the Guardians, which really showed off the 3DS's screen resolution.

The reps noted that purchased content on old DS systems could be moved to new 3DS units with an SD card, so owners of the previous system would still have access to it (games for the DS will still play in 2D). They also responded briefly to the media backlash at their suggestion that parents not allow kids six and under to play with the 3DS, saying that they only wanted parents to be aware that kids are still developing at that age; using the 3DS in 2D mode, however, would be acceptably safe.

The reps were still mum on the details of the 3DS: no battery life estimates, price, or release date. They even noted that the device I was using was still a demo unit, and not finished hardware. The exact March release date will be announced in a couple of weeks at a press event on January 19, where we expect more specs will also come to light.